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Pretty Crane
Pretty Cassandra Crane is a fictional character on the NBC/DirectTV soap opera Passions. Character History Early Life Pretty was born in Harmony on June 2, 1982. She is the youngest child and the second/youngest daughter of Julian Crane and Ivy Winthrop, and the granddaughter of the Crane Family patriarch Alistair Crane and his first wife Katherine Crane. She was born in the early 1980s, and conceived in Sri Lanka as her parents desperately sought to find a way to love one another. Julian chose to name their daughter Pretty, feeling the name to be fitting, since she was such a beautiful baby. She was the youngest of four children: her older siblings include Ethan Crane (who turned out to be her adopted older brother and the son of Sam Bennett), Fancy Crane, and Fox Crane. Pretty, like her siblings, spent much of her youth away from home attending expensive boarding schools. Throughout the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Passions gave the impression that Fancy and Pretty had a good relationship; when Fancy returned home to Harmony on June 16, 2005, she mentioned that she and her younger sister had been traveling together in Italy, where Pretty had fallen in love with an Italian count or prince, and Fancy was seen talking with an off-screen Pretty on December 1, 2005, when Ethan was set to be taken off of life support. However, beginning on January 8, 2007, Pretty's history was retconned so much that Fancy and Pretty were said to have had a very competitive and tumultuous relationship. Sheridan commented that Fancy once stole one of Pretty's dates one Labor Day simply because she could, dumping the boy a week later. Even though Fancy protested that events had not unfolded as her aunt had claimed, she did not give her own viewpoint of the event. Pool-Side Accident Pretty's recollection of Fancy throwing acid on her face as teenagers, a fight between the two sisters left Pretty badly scarred on the right side of her face. In the aftermath, the two sisters provided contradicting stories: Pretty claimed that Fancy, jealous that a new boy in town, Harrison, had eyes only for Pretty, intentionally scarred her younger sister by pouring a bottle labeled "Pool Clear Cyanuric Acid on her face; Fancy claimed that Pretty had been choking her, and, desperate to escape, she had grabbed something with which to defend herself, unaware that the bottle contained acid. After the accident, Pretty left Harmony and cut herself off from the rest of her dysfunctional family. Though she saw many plastic surgeons, none were able to fix her scars; they were only able to minimize it to its current state. As a result, Pretty harbours deep resentment against her sister, believing that Fancy intentionally scarred her, thus eliminating Pretty's chances of ever having a normal life, marrying, and having children. She also blames her parents Julian and Ivy for wanting her gone, to protect the Crane family's image. Return to Harmony At her half-brother Vincent Clarkson's request, Pretty returned to Harmony on July 30, 2007, with the intent of preventing her sister's impending nuptials to the soon-to-be-executed Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. Eager to destroy her sister's happiness, Pretty told her sister that she would reveal her version of their fight to Luis if Fancy didn't cancel the wedding; Fancy eventually complied. Ivy bumped into Pretty, and even though Ivy was happy to see her, Pretty only showed anger and resentment towards her. When Pretty tried to tell Luis what had happened all those years ago as he was walking to the execution chamber, Pilar punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious; Ivy, Pilar and Fancy left her unconscious on the floor of a jail cell, with Ivy stating that she'll have someone come and check on her later. Father Lonigan brought out a softer side of Pretty, even convincing her to let Luis die in peace. Pretty's mercy was short-lived, however, because, soon after Luis was cleared of all charges, she told him of the accident involving herself and her sister, and was incensed when Luis did not leave Fancy. Eager for revenge, Pretty joined forces with her grandfather, Alistair, despite his earlier cruelty to her (he'd spurned her and called her "Ugly Crane"), and drugged her sister so that Alistair could have a special mind-control device implanted into Fancy's brain. When the device backfired multiple times, Alistair chose a more conniving plan and he and Pretty took Luis captive in order to impregnate her. When the plan was foiled, Alistair ordered Spike Lester, a Crane lackey to kill Luis and, if she got in the way, Pretty as well. During the melee Pretty was shot in the side, but it was only a flesh wound. Pretty had fallen in love with Luis, and she tormented her aunt and sister with the possibility that she may be pregnant with his child. After months of Pretty faking a pregnancy, on June 17, 2008, Juanita Vasquez "accidentally" tripped over Pretty, causing her fake pregnant stomach to fall off. Luis and Fancy furiously yelled at Pretty. Pretty cried and even tried to apologize to Fancy but Luis was much devastated and betrayed, while her sister Fancy said that her accident in the pool-side causing Pretty's face to scar was nothing compared to what she had just done to Fancy. In tears, Fancy said, "I hate you!" and that she never wanted to see Pretty again. After an attempt to throw acid in Fancy's face failed on June 26, 2008, Pretty's dark secret was finally revealed - she had been suffering from a mental illness for many years, and in addition her facial scar was actually fake. Luis proceeded to contact a mental institution, and men in white jackets arrived to take Pretty away. According to Sheridan and Eve, Crane women suffer a hereditary case of mental illness going down to Alistair's grandmother who went insane because of losing a loved one. Pretty went crazy because of prolonged anger and, according to Eve, would be in the mental institution for a long time. Overall Character Summary Like the other Crane children, Pretty spent most of her younger years growing up at boarding schools and had minimal contact with her family. In the brief time that she did spend with her sister, they usually got up to pranks and mischief. When they got older, however, they began to compete for boys. The mysterious Pretty left Harmony years ago after a brutal fight with her sister Fancy. Since then she has been living in Europe under an alias. She was brought back to harmony by Vincent and pushed by he and Sheridan into trying to break up Fancy and Luis' wedding. The wedding never went ahead, but that wasn't really because of her. Although she thought about leaving again, the reappearance of Alistair halted her departure. He recruited the rather naive and desperate woman to help him spy on Luis and Fancy and promised her that she would get her revenge. Alistair had her and Luis confined in a basement where he forced them to make love in a bid to destroy his relationship with Fancy. Although the pair had sex, it didn't ruin his love for Fancy and he quickly reunited with her once he was freed. Pretty became even angrier at this since she had fallen in love with Luis after their first embrace. In spite of her grandfather's cruelty, she continued to work for him, using a mind control device on her sister to throw her into psychotic episodes. This put strain on Fancy's relationship with Luis, combined with the fact that Pretty was now telling Luis that she was carrying his baby. This was a ruse, however, which she managed to keep from him by bribing nurses and doctors. She even threatened to have an abortion if he turned his back on her. Finally, Luis discovered the truth behind this front when Juanita accidentally knocked Pretty's fake baby belly off while attempting to kill her.